Sportive Thoughts

"Relations aren't functions because you can have more than one 'f' for each 'R'," Mike T pointed this out in response to a recent post of mine. In retrospect, it should be obvious to even a non-mathematician; two different names imply two different things, especially in areas of technical exactitude. I don't have much of an excuse for conflating the two terms.

But I think the (somewhat weaker) point I was driving at still stands. The point is a specific metaphor is like a function, but the metaphor-maker faces a choice between several options when attempting to highlight a specific relationship between two otherwise unrelated things.

See more on relations and functions here, here, and here.